


at the end of the day

by celestial_lights



Series: shukita future fics [2]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Future Fic, M/M, they are Married and Affectionate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:02:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29665593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestial_lights/pseuds/celestial_lights
Summary: In which Yusuke lets his daughter try to paint as Ren comes home from work.(future fic, soft domestic family fluff)
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Kitagawa Yusuke, Kitagawa Yusuke/Kurusu Akira, Kitagawa Yusuke/Persona 5 Protagonist
Series: shukita future fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1105980
Kudos: 20





	at the end of the day

The house was unusually quiet when Ren came in after a long day at work. Usually, he’d be greeted by his daughter’s playful shrieks, happy that her father was finally home. It was either that or Yusuke giving him a kiss on the cheek, letting him know Kiyoko was down for a nap.

On this day in particular, neither of those things happened, leaving Ren slightly concerned. He pulled out his phone from his suit jacket so he could look at his text messages. Maybe Yusuke had gone out with Kiyoko, and Ren didn’t get the text?

Yet that wasn’t the case either, because his only text notification was from Ryuji. He opened it up to reveal a picture of Ryuji and his own son, Hideaki. It was cute and all, but it wasn’t from Yusuke, and it didn’t help him figure out where on earth his husband and daughter were.

His first stop was the nursery. While Yusuke and Kiyoko weren’t there, Morgana was sprawled out on the rocking chair, fast asleep next to a stack of folded laundry. Ren debated waking him up. Morgana would probably be pissed off at him, but he would have to deal with it.

Ren shook him gently with his hand, enough to rouse him from his sleep, but not enough to scare him. Morgana let out a series of nondescript meows before finally waking.

“Mmh… what’s going on…” the cat said as he stretched out his paws. Even though he had lived as a ‘cat’ for ten years now, his physical form hadn’t aged a bit, which everyone chalked up to as a quirk of cognition.

“Have you seen Yusuke and Kiyoko?” Ren asked, becoming more panicked.

Morgana nonchalantly licked at his paw. “They were in the front last I saw, but I’ve been napping all afternoon,” he said.

Ren groaned. Although Morgana couldn’t do much to help as a cat, the least he could’ve done was keep an eye on them. “Yusuke didn’t say anything about going anywhere?” he then asked.

“No, but he was saying something about working on a project with the kid,” Morgana replied, slightly annoyed.

Ren’s stomach dropped. _Kiyoko’s not allowed in the studio, Yusuke knows better_ , he thought, more panicked than ever. He thanked Morgana, then sprinted toward their spare room-turned-studio. Looking upward, Ren could see the childproof lock in its usual, well, locked position. He quickly flipped the switch up and opened the door to see… nothing.

A few canvases had been moved around, but otherwise there was no sign of Yusuke nor Kiyoko. Ren was about to leave the room when he noticed Yusuke’s usual painting easel had a note on it instead of the piece he had been working on the night prior.

He immediately picked it up, almost tearing it from the clip it was attached to.

_Good evening, love,_

_If you’re reading this, then Kiyoko and I are still working on an art project out on the back patio. We think you’ll appreciate our work. Come outside for a preview, if you’d like. Otherwise, we are content with keeping it a surprise._

_Love you._

_-Yusuke_

Ren breathed a sigh of relief. As paranoid as he was, at least he knew where the two were, and that they were safe. He left the studio, sure to re-lock it, and made his way to the kitchen, where the back door was located. Shrugging off his suit jacket, the implications of this ‘project’ began to come to light.

 _Just what were they doing?_ Ren thought. He knew Yusuke wasn’t so ignorant as to allow Kiyoko near the more dangerous supplies, such as his oil paints or turpentine. Yet, knowing Yusuke’s wide array of supplies at his disposal… he _had_ to figure out what was going on, if only for his own sanity.

He couldn’t say he wasn’t surprised at what awaited him beyond the door. Their precious few square yards of concrete patio were _covered_ in splatters of paint. Well, that wasn’t entirely accurate; the concrete itself was covered in a tarp and there was a large canvas being painted on.

Normally, that would be _fine_ , really, but it was their year-old daughter doing the painting, and she was covered in the stuff too, and oh he didn’t even know what kind of paint it was, would it come out-

“Let me explain,” a deep voice said from seemingly out of nowhere. Ren turned to his side, coming face-to-face with his husband. Yusuke was dressed rather casually compared to his usual attire; he had on what Ren recognized as one of his own old t-shirts, along with paint-stained jeans. His hair was pulled back into a sloppy braid, and Ren couldn’t help but want to wipe off the smudge of green paint on his cheek.

“I thought the living room could use something… _new_ ,” Yusuke began, while Ren just looked at him incredulously. “Plus, I wanted to see what Kiyoko could do with some extra tempera paints I had laying around. They are completely non-toxic, I checked. No harm done.”

Ren looked at Yusuke, then at Kiyoko. She seemed to be enjoying herself, judging by how she was smacking her almost comically large paintbrush in the puddle of spilled paint she had made. But, it was on the canvas, and Ren had to admit her ‘painting’ looked really nice. Of course, it was just an arbitrary splattering of paint, half of which didn’t even make it onto the canvas in the first place, but his daughter made it, and she was having fun.

Which, really, was all that mattered.

So Ren found a space on the tarp not hit with paint (because, frankly, he didn’t want to deal with getting paint on his work clothes, it had already happened too many times to count because of Yusuke) and crouched down.

Yusuke immediately followed suit. They curiously watched Kiyoko attempt to figure out how the bottles of paint worked, along with her trying to hold the paintbrushes Yusuke had given her. For only being a year and a half old, give or take a few months, she had a fairly good grasp (both literally and figuratively) on painting with the brush, and before long she seemed to be actually trying to cover the canvas.

Ren completely forgot about why he was so worried in the first place.

“She’s so smart,” he said. “Look at her, she’s actually mixing the colors together.”

Yusuke smiled at his husband. Whenever Kiyoko did something new, hit a milestone, Ren would always be in awe (he was just grateful Ren was there for her first steps and first words – he knew Ren didn’t want to miss those for the world). Everything their little girl did was incredible, not only to Ren, but to Yusuke too. Being able to watch her become her own person, with a unique personality and little quirks, was nothing short of mindblowing.

Ren pulled out his phone from his pocket, ready to take pictures. He definitely wanted to remember this moment.

“I wish I could go grab my actual camera…” he mumbled as he opened his camera app. Of course, that was what had caught Kiyoko’s attention. She stopped what she was doing, only to drop the brush and crawl toward her father, right through a puddle of blue paint.

Ren quickly put his phone away. “Oh, no, no sweetie, these are my nice clothes-” he began, only for Yusuke to come in and scoop her up in his arms.

“Oh, you can’t do that. Are you getting bored?” Yusuke asked. Kiyoko responded with a paint-covered hand on Yusuke’s cheek, smearing blue all over him.

Ren laughed. He couldn’t help it, Yusuke looked so _dumbfounded_ at the fact he now had paint covering half his face. And of course, Kiyoko thought her accomplishment was the funniest thing in the world, because now she was laughing too, even as she was placed back down on the ground.

“I guess you’re her new canvas,” Ren said. “I’ll get a dish rag to get that off of you, okay?”

“Ah, could you bring a bowl of water as well, then? I have a feeling this won’t be the first time,” Yusuke said. Once Ren made his way back into the house, Yusuke knelt down on the tarp once more, picking up the brush that Kiyoko had dropped. He held the end of the brush’s handle and waved it in front of Kiyoko, much to her delight. She giggled and reached forward with her chubby arms, trying to get the brush out of Yusuke’s grasp.

“Would you like to use the paintbrush again, sweetheart?” Yusuke asked, his cadence warm and gentle. Although he wasn’t used to being around young children prior to their adopting Kiyoko, he found that caring for his daughter came completely naturally.

“Bah!” Kiyoko squealed, clapping her hands together.

Yusuke laughed. “Alright, here you go,” he said as he handed the paintbrush over to her. “Go ahead now, paint however you’d like.”

Kiyoko stared at the brush with wide eyes, contemplating just _what_ to do with the gift her father gave her. Yusuke watched her play with the brush while he reached for the bottles of paint from earlier. It only took him a minute or so to arrange them in a line in front of him, ordered by the colors of the rainbow.

“Kiyoko, come here,” he said, just as calm as before. The toddler looked at Yusuke, then at the paints in front of him.

“Which color would you like to use?” Yusuke then asked. He recalled reading somewhere that talking to infants in full sentences would help their development, so both he and Ren refrained from baby talk when around Kiyoko. Besides, Yusuke thought it felt rather odd to drop his usual formal tone in the first place.

It seemed to be beneficial, because it looked as if Kiyoko immediately understood what he was asking. She reached out toward the half-empty bottle of purple paint.

“Pah!” Kiyoko shouted.

Yusuke couldn’t help but grin. His daughter was so _bright_ and _curious_ about her surroundings. He was just beyond glad she was happy and seemed to love learning.

“Purple it is. Why, this seems to be a favorite of yours today,” he observed. He wasn’t wrong – at least half of the canvas he set out for Kiyoko was covered in purple. 

As Yusuke found himself pouring the paint into one of the paper bowls he set out, he faintly heard the sound of footsteps on the patio.

“I’d kiss you right now, but I think the paint has already spread far enough,” Ren said, suddenly standing at Yusuke’s side. Yusuke noticed how Ren was now wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants, no longer in his work clothes. In addition, he was carrying a bowl of water in one hand and a damp rag in another. Ren placed the bowl at his feet and knelt down in front of Yusuke.

“Here, let me get your cheek,” Ren said as Yusuke felt the cool washcloth wipe up the mess of paint on his face. He instinctively leaned into Ren’s touch, closing his eyes to let his husband care for him, indulging in the simple act of affection. Once Ren felt he was done, he dipped the now-dirty rag into the bowl. Yusuke looked at it, watching how the paint dissipated into the water.

Ren sat next to Yusuke with ease, no longer having to gingerly dodge paint splatters. It’d be okay if his loungewear got dirty, it just meant a little more laundry for them to do at the weekend, instead of an expensive trip to the dry cleaners.

The two sat quietly next to each other, merely watching their daughter play. Yusuke eventually felt Ren’s fingertips reach toward his own. Of course, he immediately accepted his husband’s offer.

And so they sat, hand-in-hand, soaking everything in until they could truly relax, even if only for a moment.

At one point, Ren reached toward Kiyoko, ready to stop her from using the brush to paint her arm, only to be stopped by Yusuke.

“Let her figure it out herself, she’s merely exploring,” he said with a hint of a teasing lilt. “You know, she’s getting to be quite the independent one. I wanted to help her start the painting, but she tried to push me away!”

Ren laughed. “Yeah, I can see that. She got a little pushy with me yesterday when I tried helping her with her toy blocks,” he said.

Yusuke’s brow furrowed. “Do you think that will become an issue?” he asked. He couldn’t help but worry about how they were raising Kiyoko, him in particular since he was home with her the majority of the time while Ren was at work. Of course, Yusuke tried his _best_ , but neither of them exactly had positive role models to look up to. Whenever an issue came up, they more often than not improvised a solution on the fly. It seemed to work so far, at least.

Ren leaned his head against Yusuke’s shoulder and let out a deep exhale. “I don’t really think it’s a problem right now. It’s probably just a phase,” he replied.

Yusuke released tension he didn’t even realize he was holding. Ren was probably right, toddlers just _do_ these types of things, he rationalized to himself.

 _Take it easy_ , he thought.

“Or perhaps… she has merely inherited your incredible stubbornness,” Yusuke said, hoping to lighten the mood a bit.

Ren couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay, but she definitely inherited your eye for composition. She could end up being the next… oh help me out, who was that artist that threw paint everywhere?”

“Pollock?”

“Yes, Pollock!”

“Hmm… what a fascinating concept,” Yusuke mused as he watched Kiyoko work on her painting. Her canvas was more along the lines of _smeared_ paint, rather than _thrown_ paint, but Yusuke could still see the comparison his husband made. Globs of purple and blue littered the canvas, with splatters of red and white in spots. A spilled puddle of green paint covered one of the upper corners. It had no theme nor framework, but it was still his daughter’s work.

“You know, there is something truly beautiful about the creations of a child. She doesn’t have any rules to abide by, no expectations to be met. She merely has what is in front of her and her own whims,” Yusuke said.

Ren’s eyes widened. “Wow. I guess when you put it that way…” he trailed off.

Suddenly, a pair of feet pitter-pattered across the tarp once more. “Pa! Da!” Kiyoko shouted.

Ren grabbed the rag from earlier and dunked it in the bowl of water, ready to clean her up. “Yeah? What’s up, sweetie?” he asked.

Kiyoko then reached her arms up, chubby hands balling into fists. Ren smiled softly.

“Do you want to be picked up? Is my little artist tired?” he asked. Kiyoko stomped her feet, clearly antsy.

“Okay, okay. We need to get all that paint off of you first, though.”

Kiyoko whined and squirmed as Ren wiped her face off with the now-cold cloth, but she eventually relented. She stared at her fathers with wide eyes full of curiosity, even more so when Ren moved from her face to her arms. She watched in awe as the paint covering her arms seemingly disappeared before her eyes.

After sufficiently cleaning the worst of the paint off of her, Ren picked Kiyoko up once more, standing up to face Yusuke.

“I’ll give her a bath and put her down for a nap if you could clean this up for me,” Ren said.

It was terribly domestic, Yusuke thought. Here he was, with his husband and daughter, completely content after a day of work. These moments would, with time, become far and few in between as Kiyoko would begin to grow up, so Yusuke knew to cherish them now while they lasted.

“Of course, my love,” he responded, reaching forward to press a quick kiss to Ren’s lips. He looked over to Kiyoko, who was beginning to doze off in Ren’s arms.

Yusuke smiled, feeling quite content with the little family he and Ren had carved out for themselves.

**Author's Note:**

> this cute little piece was inspired by [this buzzfeed article](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniemcneal/tiny-picasso) i came across a while back. the father's comments about how his daughter wasn't "bound to any rules" because she was just a baby really got me thinking about how yusuke would probably say the exact same thing were he to try this (and you know he would, he'd be giving his kid a paintbrush on like day 1 lmao). all i know is that this fic may not be completely true to reality, because not once did i write kiyoko trying to eat the paint
> 
> as for continuing this little future au series, considering i'm not really that much into persona anymore (although i still really love shukita), i would probably say this is the last fic in this au for the time being. i did at one point have plotlines for the other phantom thieves and some stuff drafted (you see references to ryuji being a dad himself in this fic, my intent was to pair him with hifumi), but that was such a long time ago. this fic alone been sitting in the drafts for a _while_ , like almost two years by this point, i think. i still hope you enjoy reading though!


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